Friday, July 18, 2025
Sometimes, change is good. In the case of Nassau University Medical Center, it’s an absolute necessity. Years of mismanagement, resulting in part from blatant political patronage, have left it in deep financial trouble. Thanks to the determined work of Governor Kathy Hochul and the state legislature, a plan is in place to begin the process of saving this vital resource to the entire Long Island region.
Opened in 1935, the 530-bed teaching hospital in East Meadow has been the primary source of medical care for millions of Nassau County residents ever since. With its Level 1 Trauma Center and certified Burn Center, it stands as the only safety-net hospital in the region, serving 300,000 annually, including residents of eastern Queens and western Suffolk County. Most of the people who are cared for are economically challenged and rely on Medicare and Medicaid.
As part of the recently passed state budget, a plan is in place to not only change the leadership structure at the hospital but to provide it with a desperately needed infusion of cash. The board of directors of NuHealth, the public benefit corporation that oversees NUMC will no longer be controlled by cronies of Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman. Going forward, the state legislature, working with the governor, will select the majority of its members…responsible and competent people who will ensure a person with high-level managerial experience in healthcare is put in place to run NUMC. In addition, $50 million in capital funding was appropriated to enhance, modernize, and start the process of financially stabilizing NUMC, which is estimated to be $1.5 billion in debt.
While these steps are critical to stop the bleeding at NUMC, what’s needed first and foremost is a change in culture. No longer can this hospital, and the community it serves, be at the mercy of incompetent leaders in their positions due to political patronage. Take the case of former board chair Matthew Bruderman. In the spring of 2022, already plagued for years by financial mismanagement, massive debt, and experiencing a revolving door of chief executives and leadership, Blakeman appointed Bruderman, a “supposed financial expert,” as board chair. At the time, Blakeman credited Bruderman’s “stature,” but the reality is that he was best known for being a top donor to Republicans on all levels of government. Proving the folly of Blakeman’s choice was not only the continued mismanagement of NUMC, but Bruderman’s own financial dealings, which landed him a $250,000 fine and a censure by the SEC in 2023.
Bruderman’s tenure came to an ignominious end earlier this year when Blakeman, saying he was “proud of the work he had accomplished,” fired him. Oddly enough, the firing came just hours after it was reported that Bruderman’s Centre Island home had been broken into, and that the only item taken was a binder containing “sensitive” information related to an ongoing federal investigation. This is not the sort of person who has the qualifications to guide the direction of a major hospital.
Meanwhile, the appointment of the hospital’s attorney Meg Ryan, as NUMC CEO, despite her lack of experience in healthcare management, just continues the long and problematic history of leadership selection. Bruderman, meanwhile, somehow remains a member of the NuHealth board.
As if contributing to the downfall of NUMC was not damaging enough, Blakeman and the Republicans recently conducted an extremely expensive public relations campaign with the patently false accusation that the state wanted to shut the hospital down.
I can only hope that the public recognizes the baselessness of such accusations and sees that the plan described here is actually meant to accomplish the total opposite.
Saving NUMC is not optional. There are literally lives at stake.
We not only have a moral obligation to make sure NUMC survives, but the state constitution requires that we provide adequate healthcare for all citizens, leaving us no choice but to do what needs to be done to save it. This is our solemn responsibility as representatives of the people of the state of
New York and the county of Nassau. Only the direst circumstances led to the state forcing leadership changes. As long as the county at both the executive and legislative levels continued to make the lion’s share of the decisions concerning NUMC, then the ship was only going to continue to sink, and we could not in good conscience allow that.
Charles Lavine represents New York’s 13th Assembly District in Nassau County.
